Everyone on DLA will eventually convert to PIP over a period of time.

If his condition has not changed significantly then he should make a claim for PIP.

What's the worst that can happen if he tries for PIP... they just say he does not qualify for it.

The problem with PIP at the moment is the sheer time scale it takes to get it. Oh and I should

say that some of the assessors are rubbish as well. My wife had Capita and they were great for us.

Heard somewhere that just getting an assessment can now take longer than 26 weeks and

some claims are now taking over 15 months to complete.

Some people are automatically being re-assessed for PIP when their DLA is coming to an end. This

is probably what has happened in your friend's case.

Right. going to keep this short and sweet.

1 month ago my wife received a payment from DWP PIP into her bank account by total surprise as we had not received any notice that the claim had been sorted.

Today she received her next payment for PIP and yet we are still without a award notice letter.

I have been onto PIP on no fewer than 6 times and have requested callback so we could get it sorted.

Given that PIP is paid in arrears that would make it that the award was approved 7 weeks ago at least.

So, how long does it take to get a award letter?

The people you talk to (front line) are just going by what's on a screen in front of them and every time I phone it's the same old story that there's nothing on the screen other than the payments going out. They don't even know what the actual award is for (the elements).

However, the woman I talked to today said that a letter had been sent out in July. I queried that straight away as I said if a letter had been sent in July why is it that

[1] we had not received it and

[2] why was it that none of the other people I had talked to concerning this matter never mentioned the letter.

The phone went very quite after that and when she came back on it appeared that she backtracked a little and mumbled something about they were having system problems today.....

What should my plan of action be come Monday morning?

Should I give them hell?

Should I go with a SAR and get the information they are holding?

Any information would be appreciated

People in rooms.. tell me about it.

Was with a provider called Juniper.. 25+ people were shoe horned into a 15ft x 13ft which had very

little ventilation (small window), a single door, always closed and a radiator that was hot even

during the summer months, the average temperature in that room 26+degrees.

We had to sit around some desks and the person running the group would bring up all the

current jobs he thought were applicable to the majority of the group and then project

them on to a screen and read yes thats right he would read each and everyone of them to us..

The next day was exactly the same...... and so on... and so on.

I eventually escaped having served my time there and I found out a few weeks that Juniper had

lost the contract and had been shut down. Did I say Hurray out load... yep very load.

Eventually I was sent to another provider called i2i (inspire 2 independence) which my advisor

at the JC told me had a good reputation.. So I thought i was in with a chance.....

Turned out that as Juniper had shut down i2i came into existence and yes 90% of the Juniper

staff were working for i2i... it was no different than Juniper had been.

As for PWP support ... whats that?

Oh and as for taking a holiday. I cannot see why that would be a problem.

Just make sure you let them know in advance that you will be unavailable

for the period of the holiday.

But make sure you tell them by letter and make it either signed for or special delivery

so that you have proof they received it. I say this because many many phones calls and letters

tend to disappear within the DWP departments.

You keep saying "Still not had a letter from DWP". They do not rush themselves.

My wife has been waiting for 4 weeks for the DWP (PIP) to send her a letter

that shows her actual PIP award.

We had her first PIP payment 4 weeks ago and will get her next payment tomorrow

Isn't that a really weird way to run a business... Make payments but don't let the

people who are having the payments know about them via letter.

So don't expect a DWP letter to quickly.

I don't know about ATOS but we had Capita and they knew what they

were doing and got the assessment done fairly quickly, certainly within 26 weeks.

On top of that Capita got the electronic and hard copy forms to the DWP (PIP) within tens

days of the assessment.

Unfortunately DWP PIP "lost", "claimed" they had not received the hard copy forms.

Took 5 weeks before we knew about that and we asked Capita to re issue. DWP had

the hard copy within 3 working days after we requested them sent.

So, Capita do appear to know what they are doing. and to cap it all they did a

home based assessment (seems most are with them)

It's the DWP which appears to be the main bottle neck for the process with

ATOS(sers) helping the whole process to become a farce.

and despite the fact my wife has had a PIP payment and we are within 4 working days of

getting here next payment the DWP still have not sent her a Award letter even though

I have been on the phone and requested callbacks several times now.

Another update concerning where this is at + a question.

Just received a phone call from the DWP investigator to arrange a meeting to discuss a admin penalty

(he quoted 30%) which surprised me as I was expecting 50%.

It is being offered based on the £3200 JSA overpayment as there appears to be no overpayment with respect to the HB.

He did check when I asked and he said the information he had there said there was no HB opay.

He also said this was being offered and that there would be no court proceedings if I accepted. I asked for a confirmation letter

So on the 17th next week I will be having a meeting with him and possibly another person to try and get this resolved.

Would it be advisable to take my legal representative with me? My own feelings are that I should do this so I have

a witness if nothing else. What do others think?

One thing is for sure I am going to get everything in writing.

Didn't want to start a new thread/post so have just added this little question onto this (it's relevant)

Approximately 3 weeks ago we found a payment for PIP in my wifes bank account but we have not as

yet received any official letter of the award. I have phoned the DWP concerning this on 5 different occasions and have asked

for a call back as well. The 5 day deadline for the call back came and went last Friday.

Whenever I phone the person the other end justs says there's nothing on the system concerning the award...whatever...

Now whats is bothering me the most is that if I want to get a reconsideration of the award (my wife used to get DLA High Mob

but they only gave her standard PIP Mob) which has a time limit (30days? not sure). Will this time be from the date of the award or from

the date of the notification letter?

We have no back payment information either when we call them because they state the award has not been put onto the system yet.

SO they can make any award and get the payments onto the system but they cannot get the actual notification information sent out.

This is one weird system that really needs it's conkers squeezing to get it to work right.

Well the Social services kept the custody part quite from me and my wife when we took in our grand-daughter 15 years ago

and they made no mention of the "Allowance" we could have got if we had gone for full custody. In fact we were lead to

believe that we would be our grand-daughters legal guardians/ custodians from the moment the residency order had been granted.

Looks like another case of a government department not advising someone completely of what they should do and

what they would be entitled to if they were to do so.

Basically the Social Services have robbed My wife and I of about £60,000 over the last 15 years then and they have the

nerve to hit me with a £3200 overpayment....

So it looks like it's going to be a case of NEVER trusting any government department in any way ever again.......

Well the old saying of

many a true word said in jest......

Springs to mind (even if it is a spoof/satire piece)

The question is :

Why are you allowing your daughter to rob you of at least £80.00 per week (CB + CTC)?

If it was not for you taking him in then your grandson would have been put into care and

some foster parents would have got upto £400 pw for looking after him. (Well the foster ads

I have seen quote that much).

We have looked after our grand-daughter since she was born and we got parental care

granted by the courts. This meant we automatically got the CB which also gave us the CTC

and now that I am working again we also get WTC.

I would be very careful as the fallout from her being caught out by benefit officers could

have a knock on effect in which you could be included due to your knowledge of her claims.

Be careful whatever you do.

Providing you are fulfilling your JSA agreements in looking for work you can claim upto the day you actually start the course.

So if your course started on Monday then you can claim up to the Sunday. They will not let you sign off on Friday and pay you

up to Sunday. You have to find a appointment time with them that you can go during a free period time in your course.

I believe that if you have no earnings to declare to them that you can actually sign off over the phone. Someone else could probably confirm or deny this.

If I was signing off to do a course and I was starting it on a Monday I would actually sign off on the Friday so that the

entire weekend was free and i could concentrate on getting anything I needed for the course ready for the start.

I am not sure about this but if there is any equipment required for the course there may be a possibility that you

could ask them about a discretionary payment to help you meet the cost of the equipment.

They may say NO, but seeing as you will be getting off JSA they may just help you. Worth a try. But this has

to be done before you get off the JSA.

I am slightly confused by this

 

If the landlord believes the rooms are not bedrooms....

 

(e.g. 3 bed property with 2 standard bedrooms and small boxroom)

 

...why is the landlord not recategorising the properties to reflect this?

 

This would save the tenant having to go through a long winded appeals process lasting several months!

Basically it's all about money.

3 bed houses have a higher rent than 2 bed ones and

a 3 bed house usually commands a better selling price than a 2 bed.

If I was a landlord and I wanted the best return on my investment I would definitely

not reclassify my properties to have fewer bedrooms and therefore lower returns.

Well even though it took a while I suppose we have to consider ourselves lucky.

We had Capita for assessment and they came and did a home visit without us

even asking.

I reckon it actually helped our claim as the woman who came saw that the house

had been modified so that my wife could cope.

Looks like Capita do at least have a grip on the situation unlike ATOS

I would not bank on the letter coming to quickly but I hope it does.

My wife only found out about her award when she did her internet banking. We still

have not had any official confirmation (letter) concerning the award. That was

over a week ago and I have been on the phone three times since and each time the

person the other end keeps saying they cannot understand why a letter has not been sent.

We have deduced that she has been awarded standard PIP for both mob and care from information

we managed to get from the local council as it appears they have already been told about the award

and have (apparently) more information concerning it than the actual DWP people we have spoken to.

So, I hope you get your letter sooner rather than later. It opens up access to so many other benefits

as PIP is classed as a passport benefit, but you need that letter as proof to get them.

There was no income from Se but JSA, CB, CTC, HB, DLA (high mob) for 13/14 (till 17th February)

14/15 is a little messy as from April 5 - May 8th we had JSA, CB, CTC, HB, CT but no DLA as it had been stopped (17th February)

then from 8th May - 19th September we had SE, WTC, CTC, CT, CB. HB, but no DLA

and from 20th Sept on we had SE, WTC, CTC, CB, HB and PIP Standard for care and Mob.

Like I said messy

So this is probably going to take some sorting before we can get a rough figure.

Will give WTC people a call to clarify that.

Will also call the housing association as well to clarify it's effect on HB, CT as well.

My own plan of action here would be to contact my landlord directly and explain the situation

has been caused by the HB office dragging their heals and not processing the change in circumstances

that I had submitted to them.

Tell them I am in contact with the HB office and are pushing them to get the HB sorted asap.

Then I would get onto the HB people and tell them that the current situation has me facing possible eviction

because they have not processed the new information I gave them and that I am considering contacting

my local MP to get Him or Her involved. A little bit of name dropping can soon get results.

But that would be my way of dealing with this.

Your way could possibly be different.

I actually put in about 32 hours per week and I know whet your thinking HOW.

I have always risen early all my life and I am normally working by 4:00am

so can put in 3 hours per day before I get my wife's breakfast ready.

She then takes a nap about 2 hours in the afternoon during which I do my self employment again.

so I average about 30-35 hours a well because I also work weekend.

SO I actually do my se in the times when she does not need me.

During the time when she is awake I am always there for her and my se is put aside.

There are high costs involved in what I do so the profit is reasonably low. I love what I do

so the reward (profit) is sort of a extra.

The benefit agencies are only interested in the "profit" you make from your book sales (royalties) as

this was created by you. What you have to do here is have paperwork which shows the total costs that creating

that book cost you and this can be offset against any overpayment that may have happened.

As to selling something that you "own" and have purchased with your own money then that should not

make any difference to your friends at all. It's if you made a profit from selling it that is what concerns them.

#estellyn#

My wife does not claim esa and never has. I was on JSA for a long time and

she was included in my claim.

It's only in the last three months that I have gone self employed.

Current amount awarded for HB is full - 25% for bedroom tax

Well thanks for clarifying that you returned the booklet in time as that makes my initial

post/thoughts invalid which is a good thing.

I am not sure if I am right here but

"If someone's case is under review surely they cannot stop the payments until after the review has been completed"

If this above statement is correct then that would suggest that the review had been completed and if it has been

completed then they must have the information on their systems.

Whenever i am told by the person that I am speaking to that they do not have any info on the system or that they

cannot tell you anything I always say "well put me through to someone that can". You have to be firm these days

and not let them get away with this sort of thing. If they keep fobbing you off just say that you are going to have

a word with your MP (or something along that line) and theres a chance you will get them to "find the person you need"

or find out more information concerning your situation.

Your main problem is that you have received royalties for the book and have not declared the money.

You cannot hide behind the I told you about it as a lot of advisor's very easily forget what you say

and you get them saying you never mentioned it. There is probably very little information on their computers

(if any) as a lot of advisor's tend to not make important notes regarding this sort of thing as they want

an easy life in some cases and not putting info onto systems is one thing that happens.

I have had numerous problems with advisory staff concerning telling them about things and them not

making notes. I started to put a voice recorder down on the advisors desk after one incidence and from

that day on I never had another problem with their "well you did not tell us" arguments if anything

cropped up.

Nowadays, dealing with advisor's is a bit of a mine field and you have to protest yourself so

record or get written evidence, give then written information about anything like this royalties and

get the advisor to sign a copy for yourself.

They are to eager to give sanctions nowadays and not putting info onto their systems is one

way that they can get you if anything crops up and you cannot support your argument with

evidence.

Rule of thumb.

Protect your back as they will surely shoot you down if they get a chance.

I would send them the information they request asap so that they can "update" their system

and it should then resume paying the credit without problems. This may well be something they do on a

regular basis so that is something you should keep in mind.

Oh, Could I ask how you got hold of pension credit. I ask because my mother enquired about

it and they said she did not qualify. She's 80+ and only has her pension to live on each week.

Oh and just thought

I do not want to claim this carer's allowance if at the end of the week all I have done is made work for

myself and not actually gained from it. I mean what would be the point

Likewise if any award for carers left me with less than £10 more per week I do not think that claiming

it given my situation would be worth it either.

Hi All

Last week my wife's PIP claim appears to have been sorted and according to the woman I spoke to on the phone she has been awarded standard rate for both care and mobility.

So we are glad it seems to have been sorted but so far we have not had written confirmation of the award so have put the payment they made aside just in case they say they made a mistake.

Anyway, While I was browsing the net I came across Carer's Allowance and that it is a benefit that can be paid as long as you get either rate of PIP care (it also apparently applies to DLA and some other benefits).

Now I have taken some time to look into this and I seem to have conflicting information with regards as to the receiving Carer's Allowance (CA) and its effect of other benefits like HB and CT.

Now I am is self employment but my earnings after costs are in the region of £90-£95 pw after all costs have been taken into account so according to the rule that I cannot earn more than £102 pw I should qualify for it.

It the effect it would have on HB and CT that I am unsure of due to conflicting information and this is where I really would like to get some clarity.

So if anyone could shed some light onto this possible effect on HB and CT it would be appreciated.

FYI: Earning after costs of £92.50 (average), Receive WTC, CT, CB and now PIP standard for both care and mobility.

We live in adapted social housing (Tenants Association) underoccupied 2 spare bedrooms

Have no savings worth mentioning (£150)

If someone could just try to clarify the HB and CT effects as even my landlord if iffy with information.

Thanks